


A World of Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

by ironicpotential



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Big Sister Alex Danvers, Disney World & Disneyland, F/F, Fluff, Kid Kara Danvers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-15
Updated: 2018-07-15
Packaged: 2019-06-10 21:17:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15300204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ironicpotential/pseuds/ironicpotential
Summary: Alex Danvers takes her little sister to the Happiest Place on Earth and finds her own Princess Charming.





	A World of Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

**Author's Note:**

> Just a bit of summery fluff with the Danvers sisters. Totally a non-canon alternate universe exploration of what it would be like if Kara had no powers and was younger when she came to stay with the Danvers. Hope y'all like it.

Alex had been awake for about an hour when she heard the soft knock on her bedroom door.

She had hoped that she would be able to sleep in after she got home to Midvale, but her body was still used to her school schedule, even though she left Stanford a week ago. Thanks to last semester’s 8 am Anatomy lab, she was up at the crack of dawn every morning.

The knocking came again, this time accompanied by a tentative, “Alex…?”

She groaned, flopping over onto her back and pulling the covers over her head to try to block out the world. If she ignored the knocking, maybe it would go away. She could just pretend she was in Organic Chemistry or count some sheep or recite the periodic table. Then hopefully she could just drift off into dreamland.

But alas, the door creaked open and a small ball of energy flung itself onto Alex’s bed, fifty pounds of dead weight on top of her stomach. “Alex, are you awake?”

If she hadn’t been awake already, she certainly would be now. Alex loved her little sister. She really did. But not this early in the morning.

“No,” she grumbled from within her blanket cocoon.

Kara propped her head in her palms, her tiny elbows cutting into Alex’s sternum. “Hi!”

Alex pulled the covers down from her face in defeat. There was no chance of going back to sleep now. She had never been able to resist the patented Kara Danvers puppy dog eyes.

Alex sighed and sat up reluctantly, wiping the sleep from her eyes, “Good morning, Kara.”

“Good mornin’! It’s time to go!”

“Oh? Where are we going?”

The six-year-old’s lip began to quiver, her eyes large and glassy. “Yesterday you said you’d take me to Disney, remember…?”

Alex scratched her neck, going back over the events of the previous day in her mind. She’d been helping her mom clean out the house the day before when they had stumbled across some of her old VHS tapes in a box. Her dad never threw anything away, so the garage was a treasure trove of junk. “You never know when something might come in handy,” he’d always say, much to her mother’s exasperation. And as luck would have it, their old VHS player had been uncovered in another nearby box and chores were abandoned in favor of childhood memories.

Most of the box was pretty cringe worthy. Why had she taped entire seasons of Full House? She didn’t even think she ever rewatched them. Kara had loved the old episodes of Rescue Rangers though. And she had listened with rapt attention as Alex explained how if she timed it just right, she could record a whole episode without the commercials.

The gold mine for the tiny blonde were the Disney sing along tapes, the boxes worn from Alex’s own overuse. Kara loved Disney movies. In fact, when she was four, she could almost recite the entirety of Cinderella by heart. So, when Alex popped in the Disneyland tape, the girl had been absolutely spellbound.

She’d watched the whole thing three times through - making Alex stop and fast forward through the scary bit with the Haunted Mansion - before she looked back at her sister, eyes wide and hopeful, and asked, “Can we go?”

And of course, Alex said yes. How could she say no to that literal ball of sunshine? She probably should have specified that she didn’t mean the very next day though.

“Yeah. Okay. We can go,” she relented, grunting as Kara wrapped her arms around her and squeezed. For a six-year-old, she had one hell of a grip.

“You’re the best big sister ever, Alex,” Kara mumbled into her chest, “Thank you thank you thank you!”

Alex smoothed Kara’s hair down and chuckled, “You’ve gotta let me get up and get ready though okay?”

Kara nodded vigorously and leapt off of the bed. “I’m already ready, Alex, see?” She twirled around and posed, tiny hands on her hips, to display her carefully chosen outfit: a pair of shorts, a blue T-shirt, and the tiniest pair of Converse.

“You look great. Go tell mom where we’re going, and I’ll meet you downstairs in a half hour okay?”

“A half hour.”

“Mmhmm it’s 7:10 now, so in a half hour it’ll be…?”

Kara paused, tongue poking between her lips as she scrunched her face up in concentration. “7:10 plus a half hour… seven forty! The little hand on the seven and the big hand on the eight!” Her face lit up and she looked to Alex for approval.

Alex mirrored her sister’s smile, giving her a thumbs up. The girl had just mastered telling time and Alex was so incredibly proud of her.

Kara dashed downstairs and Alex shook her head fondly. 14-year-old Alex hadn’t been the most pleased when her parents had brought home a small blonde child. Kara’s birth family had been the victims of a horrible car accident and had been brought to Midvale General Hospital - where Alex’s mother worked as a trauma surgeon. Kara had been left without any family to speak of and rather than see her sent into the system, Eliza and Jeremiah Danvers adopted her as their own.

Now though, Alex couldn’t imagine a life without Kara Danvers. It didn’t matter that they weren’t sisters by blood. Kara was family, and Alex would do anything to see her little sister smile. Even if that meant driving to Disneyland early in the morning and braving the summer crowds.

She pulled on some jeans and a T-shirt, foregoing her favorite boots for an old pair of Vans more suitable for a day of walking.

When she got to the kitchen, her little sister was already chattering excitedly to their mother in between each spoonful of Cheerios.

Eliza greeted her eldest with a tired wave, “Good morning dear. Kara tells me you two have big plans today.”

Alex grabbed a bowl from the cupboard and poured herself some cereal, nodding in response. “Yep, she’s hell bent on meeting Mickey today. Sorry, I should have asked…”

Her mom patted her on the shoulder, “It’s absolutely fine. You know how to keep Kara out of trouble.”

Alex nodded. It was true. After her father died a few years after they adopted Kara, Alex had stepped up to help her mother take care of her new baby sister. She knew when Kara needed a nap and what her favorite snacks were. She knew all of her favorite games. When she first moved away for college, she had been filled with so much guilt. Even if she was only a few hours away by car, she couldn’t be there for Kara every day, which meant that Kara spent more time at daycare or at a friend’s house if their mom was stuck in the ER.

Coming home for summer break instead of taking summer classes was the best decision she could have made.

* * *

They arrived at Disneyland a little after the park opened. Even though it was summer break, there wasn’t too much traffic, which Alex was thankful for since Kara had started vibrating in her car seat with excitement the minute they set off.

As they entered the gates, Alex couldn’t help but feel nostalgic. No matter how old she got, walking through Main Street still felt like it did when she was a kid. She took a deep breath, inhaling the sweet smell of freshly baked waffle cones wafting from seemingly everywhere, and made a mental note to return for a sundae later in the day.

Her little sister held tight to her hand as they strolled down the sidewalk, gazing around in awe at all of the sights.  She looked up at Alex, eyes wide, “It looks just like in the video…”

Alex guided her over to one of the stores lining Main Street, “How would you feel about some Mickey Ears like in the video too?”

Kara’s smile grew impossibly wider, “Can you get some too? So we can match?”

“Absolutely.”

Truthfully Alex had never been a big fan of hats, but she could do Mickey Ears just this once for Kara. She selected two matching pairs and paid the cast member at the counter, who placed the hats into the embroidery machine. Kara looked on in awe as her name appeared on the back in bright yellow cursive and could barely contain her glee when Alex helped her put it on.

Alex tucked her short hair behind her ears and placed her own hat on her head. “Okay, what do you think?”

“Perfect!” Kara practically skipped out of the shop, tugging her sister by the hand back out onto Main Street and towards the castle. “Can we go to the Tiki Room now?”

Alex’s heart swelled with happiness at how carefree her sister looked, a far cry from the shy, introverted toddler she had been when she first came to their family. “We can go on _anything_ you want.”

* * *

As she disembarked the boat after their second It’s A Small World voyage, Alex started to regret that statement. True, she hadn’t been to Disneyland in years, but she was pretty sure that song didn’t use to be so _grating_. God, was this what being an adult was like?

She caught Kara by the arm before she could run back into the line to ride it a third time and guided her over towards the side of the main thoroughfare. “Hey Kara, how about we go explore a different section of the park?”

Kara pouted. “But I _love_ Small World…”

“I know you do, but there’s so many other areas we haven’t seen yet!” She pulled a park map out of her back pocket, unfolding it and titling it down so her sister could see. “You love space, right?”

The small girl nodded shyly, rocking back and forth on her heels, arms clasped behind her.

“Why don’t we go take a look at Tomorrowland then?” She circled an area in the right-hand corner of the map with her finger. “We can go up in the Astro Orbiters! It’s a little bit different than the video now, but I bet we can see the whole park from up there.”

“Can we go on Star Tours…?” Kara asked quietly. “I wanna see R2…”

Alex chuckled. They’d just finished a marathon of all of the original Star Wars films last week and Kara had been enamored with the droids. Eliza was less than pleased that her eldest had let Kara watch the films, saying she was too young, but even she couldn’t deny the fact that the small blonde looked adorable swinging around a wrapping paper tube while dressed in Alex’s bathrobe.

“Of course we can.” Alex hoisted Kara up onto her shoulders, making her sister giggle with glee. “Let’s go Padawan, off to Tomorrowland!”

“To Tomorrowland!” Kara echoed, raising one of her tiny fists into the air as they set off through the crowds.

Alex lifted Kara carefully back down to the ground as they arrived at the ride. She looked up at the sign estimating the amount of time that it would take to get on. 55 minutes. Alex winced. She wasn’t looking forward to standing in the sun for nearly an hour, but Kara had chattered nonstop about the ride the entire walk to Tomorrowland and she wasn’t about to crush her sister’s dreams now.

Kara was incredibly patient the first twenty minutes they were in the queue, slurping on a juice box that Alex had packed for her, giving Alex the chance to relax for the first time all day. Truth be told, it wasn’t as crowded as she thought it would be. There were a lot of summer camp groups though, which meant loads of hyperactive children with not nearly enough adult supervision. A group of them were rustling the chains of the queue, causing the short, brunette cast member standing nearby to call over, telling them off. Alex snorted at the camp supervisors’ affronted looks, catching the attention of the cast member, who was really quite cute in Alex’s opinion. The girl rolled her eyes and they shared a secret look full of mutual scorn.

“Hey Alex?”

And with that the moment had passed. Alex turned her attention back towards her little sister, who was looking up at her, eyebrows knitted together.

“What’s up Kara?”

“Why don’t you kiss Kelly anymore? She hasn’t been over.”

They shuffled forward, giving Alex a chance to figure out how to respond.

“Uh, well… Kelly and I aren’t together anymore.”

“Oh.” Kara frowned. “Why?”

“It just… didn’t work out.”

“Is it ‘cause mom caught you playing with her in your room with the door closed?”

Alex heard a snort of barely concealed laughter that - to her mortification - came from the cute cast member. Maybe she’d get lucky and the ground would just swallow her up.

Completely unaware that everyone nearby them in the queue could hear, Kara pressed on, pouting as she grew frustrated with Alex’s lack of explanation, “What were you doing in there anyway? Why couldn’t I play too?”

They moved forward again, nearly to the part of the queue where they’d be let inside the actual ride building, when they were stopped by the cute cast member. They were close enough now that Alex could make out the name on her tag: _Maggie_.

Maggie waved a few of the guests from the Fast Pass line through into the ride, then turned back towards Alex and Kara. “Kelly, huh?”

Alex glanced down at Kara, her entire face burning. “It was a private game.”

Maggie bit her lip, suppressing another giggle. She was about to wave them through when her coworker, an older man with greying hair stopped them.

“Hold on there, we just need to make sure you’re tall enough.” He said, guiding them over to a pole with a ruler attached and instructing Kara to stand tall up against it. Alex’s heart sank as she saw that Kara’s height came to just under the required 40 inches.

The cast member shook his head sadly and Kara looked up at Alex, tears threatening to fall. Alex knelt down in front of her sister and placed her hands on Kara’s shoulders. “Hey… hey don’t cry Kara. It’s okay,” she soothed. “This just means we’ll have to come back in a couple weeks when you hit your growth spurt, right?”

Her sister looked down at the ground and sniffled. Alex tucked a lock of blonde hair behind her ear.

“We can even go on the teacups as many times as you want,” Alex prodded softly. “I know you loved that part in the video.”

Kara nodded and reached for Alex’s hand. Alex held tight and led Kara towards the castle.

“Hey wait! Alex! Kara!”

Alex whirled around confused, squinting at the cast member approaching them. It was Maggie. She placed a hand on Kara’s shoulder, suspicious as to how Maggie knew their names before realizing they were _written on the back of their hats_.

Maggie finally caught up with them and exhaled in relief, panting a bit from her brief sprint. Now seeing her up close, standing face to face, Alex couldn’t help but notice that she was right around her age, maybe a year or two older, and was absolutely gorgeous.

Maggie knelt down next to Kara and held out her hand to shake. “I’m so glad I caught up with you. My name is Maggie.”

Kara looked to her sister, silently asking for permission to respond, and Alex was filled with pride that Kara remembered their chat earlier that morning about strangers. She nodded her assent and Kara tentatively took Maggie’s hand.

“I’m Kara.”

“It’s so nice to meet you, Kara! I’m here because the Fairy Godmother told me you could use some magic today.” Maggie shot Alex a quick wink and it took every bit of self-control she had not to melt right there onto the pavement. Not only was Maggie drop dead gorgeous, she was also great with kids.

Maggie turned back to Kara and leaned in conspiratorially. “Do you believe in magic, Kara?”

Alex watched on as her sister nodded vigorously.

“That’s great!” Maggie beamed. “I have something extra special for you two then.”

She stood, reaching into the small pin pouch attached to her belt and pulled out a small pad of paper and a pen. Her tongue poked out in concentration as she scribbled something down. Satisfied with her work, she capped the pen and handed a piece of paper to Alex. Their fingers brushed as Alex reached to take it and she felt a rush of heat through her body that settled low in her stomach. Alex prayed that her face wasn’t as red as it felt.

“It’s a magic Fast Pass.” Maggie explained. “You can use it as many times as you want to get you on rides quicker.”

Alex looked at Kara, who had taken the pass from her and was looking at it as if it were made of gold, and then back at the woman in disbelief. “Are you serious?”

Maggie smiled again, and Alex felt as if she had been hit in the solar plexus by gay feelings - _god those dimples!_

She inwardly chastised herself for perving on this woman. She was just being nice to them because her sister was going to cry. The last thing she probably needed was a useless lesbian swooning over how soft her hair looked or how well she filled out that uniform.

Kara looked up at Maggie as if she herself were the Fairy Godmother and launched herself at the cast member, hugging her tightly around the waist. “Thank you, Maggie!”

Maggie laughed, and Alex was sure she’d never heard a more beautiful sound in her life. “Of course. I hope your day is a little more _magical_.” She looked right into Alex’s eyes as she said it and _oh_ Alex was an absolute goner. Then as quickly as she had caught up with them, she was gone. Alex looked on at the retreating figure filled with regret. It was probably for the best. It wouldn’t have been appropriate for her to ask for Maggie’s number while she was working. Not that she would have found the courage to do so anyway.

Kara tugged at the hem of her shirt, pulling her attention back to her little sister. “Can we go on Peter Pan now, Alex?”

Alex nodded distractedly. “Yeah. Yeah of course we can.”

She took Kara’s hand and they set off towards Fantasyland, Kara half-skipping all the way.

* * *

They were sitting on the curb of Main Street, sharing a waffle cone and waiting for the fireworks to start when Kara spotted her again.

“Alex! Alex look!” She pointed excitedly over towards the Magic Shop where a young woman was walking by with a backpack. “It’s Maggie!”

Alex looked over to where Kara had indicated and sure enough, there was Maggie, dressed in her street clothes, probably on her way out of the park. A thousand thoughts rushed through her head all at once. Should she go over there? Should she say something? Would that be too weird?

Before she had the chance, Kara was already pulling her up and dragging her over towards Maggie, shouting excitedly to grab the other woman’s attention. Maggie stopped at the sound of her name and suddenly they were so close they were almost touching.

Maggie smiled, her eyes crinkling. “Oh, hey you guys, how was your day?”

“Ohhhh it was so amazing! We went on the teacups three times and then we went on Storybookland and the houses were so small, but the ducks were so big!” Kara ticked off each thing they did on her fingers, bouncing up and down, unable to stay still. “And then we went on Alice in Wonderland and it was a little scary, but Alex held my hand in the dark parts because she’s the best sister ever!”

Maggie laughed at Kara’s ramble and looked over at Alex with a playful gleam in her eye. “The best ever, huh?”

“Uh huh!” Kara exclaimed, oblivious to the fact that Maggie’s attention was solely on her older sister. “She’s really smart and brave! Like… even braver than Merida!”

“That’s pretty brave.”

Alex wasn’t positive, but she thought maybe, just maybe Maggie might have been flirting with her. But there’s no way. There’s no way such a gorgeous woman could also be gay, single, and into her. They may have been at Disneyland, but dreams don’t actually just come true like that.

Unfortunately, Kara was on a roll. “She goes to Stanford. She’s gonna be a _doctor_ just like our mom!”

“Impressive.”

Alex glanced down at her feet at the praise, the tips of her ears burning with embarrassment.

“Oh! Alex!” Kara exclaimed, tugging at her hand once more. “Can Maggie get dinner and watch the fireworks with us?”

Kara’s eyes were pleading, and she was halfway to one of her infamous pouts. Her heart clenched at the suggestion. “Oh… Kara, I don’t know. I think Maggie probably wants to head home.”

“But _Alex_.” Kara pleaded. “She’s really nice and really pretty and you don’t have a girlfriend anymore.”

“Oh god.” She was absolutely mortified. “I am so, so sorry, Maggie.”

Maggie rests a hand on her bicep, stroking it with her thumb. “It’s really okay. I think I’d like that. Dinner and fireworks with you.”

“Y-yeah?”

“Yeah. Who could say no to a cute kid like that.” The dimples had returned in full force, accompanied by the softest look Alex had ever seen. “Besides, I don’t have a girlfriend either.”

Maggie winked at her once more and allowed Kara to drag her over to the corn dog truck. Alex followed, still in a daze. Her heart was hammering, trying to break out of her chest.

Maggie flat out refused to let her pay for their dinner, despite her protests and led them over to a bench by the Disneyland Railroad Main Street station, telling them that it was the best place to watch the fireworks.

Maggie tried to sit on Kara’s other side, but Kara quickly scooted over to the end of the bench, leaving the only space next to Alex. Alex chuckled inwardly at her sister’s obvious attempts at being a wing woman. She definitely owed her another trip to Disneyland in a few weeks.

Alex shyly patted the space next to her and Maggie sat down. The other girl wiped her hand on her shorts, just as nervous as Alex was. They shared a small smile as Kara noisily chomped on her corn dog next to them.

Alex bit her lip, trying to think of what to say. Luckily Maggie beat her to it.

“So, um. You go to Stanford?”

She nodded. “Yeah, you? You’re um, in college too?”

“Yeah,” Maggie tossed her hair over her shoulder. “I go to Berkeley. Criminal Justice major.”

 _Oh._ Berkeley was really close. Alex tried not to get too excited by that fact.

“So, you’re here just for the summer then?”

“Mmhm. My aunt lives in Anaheim so…” Maggie shrugged. “I just work here summers. Good experience dealing with people and I want to be a cop so...” She trails off.

“That’s really cool.” She tentatively placed her hand on Maggie’s and was rewarded by the other girl entwining their fingers.

She was about to turn on the charm when Kara let out a large yawn. Alex’s heart - and hopes - fall. She should have figured Kara wouldn’t be able to make it all the way to fireworks after getting up so early. They still had about a half hour to go.

Kara shuffled around on the bench, restless, batting Alex’s hand away grumpily - as she did whenever she missed her nap. “Alex can we go home?”

“You’re gonna miss the fireworks though if we go home.”

“Don’ care.” Kara mumbled into Alex’s lap. “Sleepy.”

“Too much excitement for today?” Maggie piped up.

Alex sighed, running her hand through her sleepy sister’s hair. “Yeah I think so.”

She stood up from the bench and then squatted down to let Kara wind her arms securely around her neck.

Maggie placed a hand on her arm. “Let me walk you to your car? I can carry your bag while you get Kara?”

“That would be amazing.” Alex was relieved. She wasn’t quite ready to say goodbye to Maggie yet.

* * *

Alex strapped a half-asleep Kara into her car seat, fumbling with the buckles, her mind a thousand miles away. She had needed the walk to the parking structure to gather the courage to ask for Maggie’s phone number, but now that they had gotten to the car, she still felt unsure.

Half-asleep, Kara poked Alex in the arm and whispered, “Are you gonna kiss her goodnight?”

“Shh you.”

“You have to!” Kara protested, raising her voice. “It’s Disney! It’s like a fairytale!”

Alex flushed, glancing back towards where Maggie was waiting patiently outside the car. The girl had _clearly_ heard Kara because she was laughing at her. _Again_. She and Kara were absolutely going to have to have a talk about subtlety when they got home.

Alex clicked the last of the buckles and closed the car door. She turned towards Maggie and shrugged, giving Maggie a half smile that she hoped looked less awkward than it felt. “Kid sisters, you know?”

“She’s right, though.” Maggie smiled, moving closer to Alex, biting her lip. “It _is_ Disneyland.”

Her eyes darted to Alex’s mouth and back up again and then suddenly Maggie’s hands were on her face and she was closing the distance between them. Alex sighed into the kiss. She could hear the fireworks crackling in the background, but she was sure that there was no way that the spectacle could compare to the sparks that she felt kissing Maggie.

She pulled away in a daze, not sure if she was dreaming or not. “Wow.” She opened her eyes slowly to see Maggie staring at her tenderly.

“Wow indeed.” Maggie’s thumbs traced the line of Alex’s jaw and Alex was hit with the urge to pull her in for another kiss. She leaned forward but was stopped by a gentle hand against her chest.

“Save it for Friday night?”

Alex blinked, utterly confused. “Friday night?”

“I’m free if you are.” Maggie grinned and Alex nearly swooned. Those dimples were like weapons and Alex had a feeling Maggie knew _exactly_ what they were doing to her.

She gave Alex one last peck on the cheek and started off towards the employee parking lot.

As she watched Maggie walk away, Alex started to panic. She hadn’t asked for her number. How was she supposed to take her out? Did she expect her to meet her at Disneyland? There’s no way she’d find her there again.

“Wait! Maggie!” Alex called after her. “How-?”

“Did you check the Fast Pass?” Maggie called back, cutting Alex off.

Alex pulled the pass out of her pocket, confused. She turned it over in her hand and that’s when she saw it. Right there in the corner in small writing. Ten digits. A phone number. Maggie’s phone number.

She leaned up against the car, holding the pass tightly to her chest, a goofy grin returning to her face.

Maybe sometimes, dreams really did come true.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks once again to TaFuilLiom for putting up with my half-baked ideas and helping to make them something more palatable.


End file.
